Ed Miliband has played into the Tories’ hands by failing to defend Labour’s
economic record, Alastair Campbell has said, amid continuing criticism of
the party’s performance.

On Wednesday Mr Miliband will make his first public appearance after a two-week break in which his own MPs and senior party figures have grown increasingly restless over Labour’s failure to break through with voters.

Another former minister said on Tuesday that Labour lacked a “coherent message” and warned that his former colleagues had “a big hill” to climb to win the 2015 election.

The party’s opinion poll lead over the Tories has been hit by a recent scandal over trade union influence and growing evidence that the economy is recovering.

The Labour leader will use a visit to a London street market to step up his campaign over the cost of living, highlighting how wages have failed to keep pace with rising prices for everyday goods.

However, his absence has been filled by colleagues attacking the party's failure to seize the agenda during Parliament's long summer break.

Mr Campbell, the former Downing Street director of communications, said Labour had allowed the Tories to blame the last government for the financial crisis.

Writing on his blog, Mr Campbell said: “Britain is, I think, the only country in the world whose politics has somehow conspired to pile the blame for the crisis not on those who caused it but on those who led the world in solving it.

“Labour have played into Tory hands on this, and there needs to be an admission of that, so that even at this late stage, a proper debate and a proper reckoning of the record can be had.”

Mr Campbell conceded that such a tactic would provoke more claims that the Conservatives were clearing up Labour’s “mess” but added: “It can and must be done".

“Britain had ten good years of growth and prosperity under Labour which is one of the many reasons we won three elections and stopped David Cameron winning a majority," he said.

Chris Mullin, an author and former minister in the Blair government, said Labour needed a “coherent message” on the economy to compete with the Conservatives' “vast lie” about the causes of Britain’s economic problems.

“I do think they need a strong, coherent case and the need a credible message,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One.

“They’ve got a big hill to climb, especially now the economy is back in growth and an economic miracle is being declared. They have to get a coherent line on the economy. The economy is the key issue.”

Ed Miliband and his shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, must counter the Tory claim that Britain’s problems were primarily caused by the last government, rather than the bankers. “They should have been doing this for a long time,” he said.

A Labour source said Mr Miliband would be concentrating on the “big strategic questions” facing the country. “The party which wins the next election is the party which has the right answers on the economy, social security, immigration and public services.”

Mr Miliband is likely to seize on Wednesday's unemployment and average wage figures to support his claim that David Cameron is overseeing a catastrophic fall in families' living standards. On average, earnings are £1,350 a year lower than they were at the time of the last general election in 2010, Mr Miliband will say.

Labour is expected to reinforce the message with a campaign slogan in the months ahead, saying: "David Cameron is out of touch. You're out of pocket."